Ten days
ago, Dave Regan deposited a quarter
million dollars of SEIU-UHW members’
funds into a Super PAC to oppose two pro-worker candidates running for San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors.

One of the
candidates is Gordon
Mar, the Executive Director of “Jobs
with Justice San Francisco,” a pro-labor organization backed by many unions…
including SEIU.

Go figure.

According to
campaign
records, Regan dropped the $250K into a PAC that’s long been associated
with billionaire tech investor Ron
Conway, a San Francisco resident who’s been sharply criticized for using
his cash to exert outsized influence on San Francisco politics.

Just days
after Regan deposited the money into Conway’s PAC (“Progress San Francisco”), the
PAC funneled more than $120,000 into two “Independent Expenditure”
campaigns to oppose the pro-worker candidates. (The two IEs are “San
Franciscans for Change, Supporting Johnson and Trauss for D6 Supervisor 2018”
and “Safe and Clean Sunset Coalition, Supporting Ho for D4 Supervisor 2018.”)

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan

Conway, once
dubbed the “Godfather of Silicon Valley,” was an early investor in Google,
Facebook and other tech companies. He was the single largest donor to former San
Francisco Mayor Ed Lee… dumping
$600,000 into an independent expenditure committee to support Lee. After Lee
was elected, observers criticized him for taking actions to benefit the companies
in which Conway has investments.

When Lee
died suddenly in office, Conway threw his support behind London Breed, who defeated two progressives in June 2018 with the
help of a half million dollars of Conway’s money, according to campaign records.
Breed now sits in the mayor’s office.

Regan, by pouring
$250,000 into Conway’s PAC, has joined forces with a gang of SF business titans.

In recent
days, a business association representing San Francisco’s 40 largest employers --
the so-called “Committee on Jobs” --
dumped $50,000 into Conway’s PAC. The group’s board is headed by Lloyd Dean, the CEO of Dignity Health, which employs about
13,000 of SEIU-UHW’s members. Conway also serves on the Board of Directors of
the “Committee on Jobs.”

Another
contributor is Diane Wilsey, the
owner and CEO of A. Wilsey Properties
Company, a San Francisco-based real estate company. Last week, she dropped
$150,000 into Conway’s PAC, according to campaign
records. (See below.)

Diane Wilsey -- Dave's pal

Wilsey, the
daughter of a US ambassador and the great-granddaughter of the founder of Dow Chemical, inherited $300 million
and a real estate company when her husband, a real estate tycoon, died in 2002.

She’s also a
socialite who pays special attention to the ballet, the opera and museums, which
earned her the title of “San Francisco’s queen of philanthropy” by the New York Times. (Jori Finkel, “For
San Francisco’s Queen of Philanthropy, No Quiet Exits,” New York Times, August 1, 2016)

By the way…
she loves her pet dogs. She donated thousands of dollars to put her dogs’ names
on the walls of a San Francisco museum, where her pure-bred canines are
memorialized as generous donors to the museum.

WTF, right?

And here’s a
shocker.

Wilsey reportedly
doesn’t have much respect for regular people.

A former director of San
Francisco’s museums told the New York
Times: “She can laugh and joke with anyone, even a truck driver. Her
failing is that she has not always listened to what people told her if they
didn’t have social standing.” (Laura M. Holson, “Dede
Wilsey Is the Defiant Socialite,” New
York Times, September 24, 2016)

Another
former director put it more bluntly: “A lowly staff member does not command her
attention. There is a master-servant relationship that gets in the way of
things.”

Yo, Dave… she
sounds like a f*cking perfect ally for the workers in SEIU-UHW. Great job.

So who are
the two candidates opposed by Regan, Conway, Wilsey, and the other gold-plated
execs?

One is Gordon Mar, the Executive Director of “Jobs
with Justice San Francisco.” He’s a candidate in District 4 for the Board of
Supervisors. The second is Matt Haney,
a tenants rights attorney who served as the President of the Board of Education.
He’s a candidate in District 6.

Diane Wilsey relaxing with her dogs

Mar and
Haney have each been endorsed by more than 20 unions, including UNITE HERE, NUHW,
CNA, UFCW, Teamsters, the teachers’ union, the San Francisco Labor Council, and
SEIU Local 1021. They’ve also been endorsed by groups like the Green Party, the
San Francisco Tenants Union, San Francisco Berniecrats, the San Francisco
League of Pissed Off Voters, as well as progressive members of the San
Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Meanwhile,
their opponents -- Jessica Ho, Sonja Trauss and Christine Johnson, whom Regan is backing to the tune of $250,000 --
are each endorsed by just two unions.

So why is
Regan working with corporate fatcats to oppose pro-worker candidates?

First of
all, this isn’t new for Regan. Since Andy Stern appointed him as the trustee of
SEIU-UHW, Regan has dramatically reshaped the union’s former political orientation
in order to align it with business executives and the right wing of the labor
movement.

In 2014, for
example, Regan joined billionaire Conway and AirBnB investor Reid Hoffman
in backing David Chiu, another
corporate Democrat, in his race against David
Campos, a progressive candidate for a California Assembly seat in San
Francisco.

Secondly,
there’s undoubtedly a transactional deal hidden behind Regan’s contribution --
a tit-for-tat exchange in which Regan kicks down $250,000 of SEIU-UHW members’
money in return for some secret benefit to Regan.

From the
face of it, it’s difficult to see how SEIU-UHW’s numbers could possibly benefit
from defeating pro-worker candidates and replacing them with corporate Democrats
beholden to a billionaire tech investor and corporate bosses, including the CEO
of Dignity Health.

Leave it to
Regan -- a so-called “21st century thinker” -- to sell out workers
in favor of corporate executives.

For more
information, see excerpts from campaign filings below. Also, here are links to several
articles:

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

SEIU
President Emeritus Andy Stern has once
again shown his true colors.

In an
upcoming election for a seat in California’s legislature, Stern has jumped in
on the side of billionaires to back a corporate Democrat who’s challenging a union
member supported by progressive organizations, multiple local unions, Bernie Sanders’
Our Revolution, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and California-based unions
inside SEIU.

The November
election pits Jovanka Beckles -- a Teamster, two-term Richmond city councilmember and DSA member -- against Buffy Wicks, a former White House official and Clinton Super PAC
director who recently relocated to California and has never held elected office.

According to
records from the California
Secretary of State, Stern has made two contributions to Wicks this year. When
contributing the funds, Stern identified himself as a “consultant” for Grandview, LLC, a corporation founded
by Stern soon after he resigned as President of SEIU in April 2010. (See below.)

Incorporation
documents confirm Stern’s role in the company (see below). Stern may use the corporation
as a vehicle for his
consulting gigs with tech companies like Uber and AirBnB. Stern’s company is
registered to a Washington, DC apartment -- presumably Stern’s -- which appears
to have a “grand view” of the Potomac River.

Jovanka Beckles (left) and Buffy Wicks (right)

The race for
the California legislative seat has features similar to recent electoral
contests in the US including the one between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe
Crowley.

During this
spring’s primary election, Wicks received $1.2 million from “wealthy donors
tied to Lyft, Uber, and Bay Area tech firms, charter school interests, major
landlords, a health care industry PAC, and Govern for California, a
business-oriented Super PAC created by the board chair of Walmart and a former
top advisor to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,” according to an article
authored by labor journalist Steve Early.
(Steve Early, “Teamster
Tackles Corporate Democrat in California Assembly Race,” Labor Notes, August 31, 2018)

Ex-SEIU President Andy Stern is an
individual endorser of Wicks—despite the fact that two major SEIU locals and
their state council favor Beckles. Since leaving the union, Stern has become a
corporate board member and gig economy consultant… In the Assembly District 15
race today, California single-payer advocates favor Beckles over Wicks, whose
position on health care reform is much weaker.

If Beckles’ consistent solidarity with local
labor causes is reciprocated through sufficient union voter turnout and
spending on her behalf, she may indeed be joining the Assembly in January.

And there, she will be a rare
“corporate-free” voice for many other working class and poor Californians whose
interests tend to be overlooked by state legislators who do take money from
business PACs and industry associations.

Beckles is
backed by multiple unions including the National Union of Healthcare Workers,
Transit (ATU) Local 192, University Professional and Technical Employees (CWA),
Teamsters Joint Council 7, SEIU Local 1021, the Alameda and Contra Costa County
Labor Councils, the California Labor Federation, both statewide teachers’
unions, AFSCME, and the California Nurses Association.

Friday, September 7, 2018

SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan is getting more attention in the news… this time for
allegations that he and other top SEIU-UHW officials engaged in harassment
against women inside the union.

On August
21, Payday Report published an
article detailing the latest developments in a lawsuit filed by Mindy Sturge against SEIU-UHW and Marcus Hatcher. Sturge first filed the lawsuit in May, but filed an updated and amended suit in July in Alameda County (Calif.) Superior Court. (Mike Elk, “Sexual
Misconduct Lawsuit Filed Against SEIU Prez’s Top Ally,” Payday Report, August and 21, 2018)

Until
recently, Hatcher directed SEIU-UHW’s Kaiser Division and served on the union’s
Executive Board and Executive Committee. He was one of Regan’s top allies. Sturge,
a “Coordinator” in SEIU-UHW’s Kaiser Division, was directly supervised by
Hatcher.

Here’s an
excerpt from the article. A full copy of the revised lawsuit is below.

Payday Report has learned that one of the
largest Service Employees International Union locals in the country,
California-based SEIU-UHW, has been sued in Alameda, California for sexual
misconduct and assault committed by a top SEIU official against one of its
former organizers. The lawsuits, obtained by Payday Report, accuses SEIU Vice
President Dave Regan, who also serves as President of SEIU-UHW, of engaging in
sexual misconduct…

SEIU-UHW has long faced criticism as one of
the most corrupt and undemocratic union locals in the country; leading many
#metoo activists to believe that the undemocratic culture within the union has
bred a culture where misogyny and sexual misconduct flourish…

Now a lawsuit filed by a former SEIU
staffer, Mindy Sturge, accuses SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan and former
SEIU-UHW Kaiser Permanente Division Director Marcus Hatcher, of sexual
misconduct and retaliation against Sturge for reporting it.

The lawsuit filed by Sturge also accuses
SEIU-UHW of knowingly hiring organizers such as [Pedro] Malave who have been
accused of sexual misconduct in other parts of the union.

According to the lawsuit: “Sturge and other
women employees, and women union members were the subjects of inappropriate
remarks that addressed their looks, their bodies, and their
availability/interest in relationships. Sturge was also subjected to offensive
touching, and she and others were discussed in inappropriate texts and in
comments heard by or related to Sturge”.

Sturge reported the comments to SEIU-UHW
management on several occasions, but no investigation was undertaken until
Sturge was physically and sexually assaulted by Hatcher in September of 2017.

When Sturge finally did report the
incidents, the lawsuit alleges that Regan, who was responsible for
investigating all claims as President of the SEIU-UHW, verbally abused and
berated Sturge in front of other staff members.

In November of 2017, Hatcher was reportedly
fired from SEIU-UHW for violating SEIU’s non-fraternization policy, but the
union took no disciplinary action against him for engaging in alleged sexual
misconduct and assault. Nor was an action taken against SEIU UHW President Dave
Regan for harassment of Sturge.

During this time period, the lawsuit alleges
that Hatcher and his allies made social media posts and verbal comments
accusing Sturge of lying about the story and trying to shake down Hatcher and
the union for money after engaging in a consensual sexual relationship with
Hatcher.

The lawsuit alleges that that “SEIU-UHW and
its agents furthered the false and defamatory narrative about Sturge by
announcing to others, both internally and externally, that Hatcher was fired
for violation of the union’s non-fraternization policy as opposed to Hatcher
having violated SEIU-UHW’s anti-harassment policy and/or having assaulted
Sturge. This gave rise to the implication that Sturge and Hatcher had a
consensual relationship or that his termination was the sole result of his
consensual relationship(s) with other union staff and/or members”.

The lawsuit
alleges that Hatcher and/or other SEIU-UHW staffers waged a campaign on
Facebook and other social media designed to trash Sturge’s reputation and to lie
about what happened. Here’s an excerpt from the lawsuit:

Among other things, these posts claim that
Sturge had lied about the sexual assault by Hatcher, that she had “a consensual
affair” with Hatcher, that she had ruined Hatcher’s life and career, that she
is a “liar and manipulator,” that she is “a cheat and a home wrecker,” that she
traveled to Los Angeles to further her alleged consensual affair with Hatcher,
that she would go “bar-hopping” with Hatcher, and that she had reported Hatcher’s
conduct to SEIU-UHW solely for the purpose of obtaining a monetary settlement…

According to
the lawsuit, all of these statements are false and originated from Hatcher
and/or other SEIU-UHW staffers. The latest version of the lawsuit says that
when some of these Facebook post attacking Sturge were shown to Greg Pullman (SEIU-UHW’s Chief of
Staff), he called the posts “disgusting.”

If the
lawsuit proceeds to trial, says Payday
Report, it could produce “volumes of evidence” that could shine a light on
why top SEIU officials like Regan “were allowed to get away with sexual
misconduct and retaliation against those who reported it.”

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